1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to TCR-deficient T cells, methods of making and using TCR-deficient T cells, and methods of using these TCR-deficient T cells to address diseases and disorders. In one embodiment, the invention broadly relates to TCR-deficient T cells, isolated populations thereof, and compositions comprising the same. In another embodiment of the invention, said TCR-deficient T cells are further designed to express a functional non-TCR receptor. The invention also pertains to methods of making said TCR-deficient T cells, and methods of reducing or ameliorating, or preventing or treating, diseases and disorders using said TCR-deficient T cells, populations thereof, or compositions comprising the same.
2. Description of Related Art
The global burden of cancer doubled between 1975 and 2000, and cancer is expected to become the leading cause of death worldwide by 2010. According to the American Cancer Society, it is projected to double again by 2020 and to triple by 2030. Thus, there is a need for more effective therapies to treat various forms of cancer. Ideally, any cancer therapy should be effective (at killing cancerous cells), targeted (i.e. selective, to avoid killing healthy cells), permanent (to avoid relapse and metastasis), and affordable. Today's standards of care for most cancers fall short in some or all of these criteria.
Cellular immunotherapy has been shown to result in specific tumor elimination and has the potential to provide specific and effective cancer therapy (Ho, W. Y. et al. 2003. Cancer Cell 3:1318-1328; Morris, E. C. et al. 2003. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 131:1-7; Rosenberg, S. A. 2001. Nature 411:380-384; Boon, T. and P. van der Bruggen. 1996. J. Exp. Med. 183:725-729). T cells have often been the effector cells of choice for cancer immunotherapy due to their selective recognition and powerful effector mechanisms. T cells recognize specific peptides derived from internal cellular proteins in the context of self-major histocompatability complex (MHC) using their T cell receptors (TCR).
It is recognized in the art that the TCR complex associates in precise fashion by the formation of dimers and association of these dimers (TCR-alpha/beta, CD3-gamma/epsilon, CD3-delta/epsilon, and CD3-zeta dimer) into one TCR complex that can be exported to the cell surface. The inability of any of these complexes to form properly will inhibit TCR assembly and expression (Call, M. E. et al., (2007) Nature Rev. Immunol., 7:841-850; Call, M. E. et al., (2005) Annu. Rev. Immunol., 23:101-125).
Particular amino acid residues in the respective TCR chains have been identified as important for proper dimer formation and TCR assembly. In particular, for TCR-alpha, these key amino acids in the transmembrane portion are arginine (for association with CD3-zeta) and lysine (for association with the CD3-epsilon/delta dimer). For TCR-beta, the key amino acid in the transmembrane portion is a lysine (for association with CD3-epsilon/gamma dimer). For CD3-gamma, the key amino acid in the transmembrane portion is a glutamic acid. For CD3-delta, the key amino acid in the transmembrane portion is an aspartic acid. For CD3-epsilon, the key amino acid in the transmembrane portion is an aspartic acid. For CD3-zeta, the key amino acid in the transmembrane portion is an aspartic acid (Call, M. E. et al., (2007) Nature Rev. Immunol., 7:841-850; Call, M. E. et al., (2005) Annu. Rev. Immunol., 23:101-125).
Peptides derived from altered or mutated proteins in tumors can be recognized by specific TCRs. Several key studies have led to the identification of antigens associated with specific tumors that have been able to induce effective cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses in patients (Ribas, A. et al. 2003. J. Clin. Oncol. 21:2415-2432). T cell effector mechanisms include the ability to kill tumor cells directly and the production of cytokines that activate other host immune cells and change the local tumor microenvironment. Theoretically, T cells could identify and destroy a tumor cell expressing a single mutated peptide. Adoptive immunotherapy with CTL clones specific for MARTI or gp100 with low dose IL-2 has been effective in reduction or stabilization of tumor burden in some patients (Yee, C. et al. 2002. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:16168-16173). Other approaches use T cells with a defined anti-tumor receptor. These approaches include genetically modifying CTLs with new antigen-specific T cell receptors that recognize tumor peptides and MHC, chimeric antigen receptors (CARS) derived from single chain antibody fragments (scFv) coupled to an appropriate signaling element, or the use of chimeric NK cell receptors (Ho, W. Y. et al. 2003. Cancer Cell 3:431-437; Eshhar, Z. et al. 1993. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:720-724; Maher, J. and E. T. Davies. 2004. Br. J. Cancer 91:817-821; Zhang, T. et al. 2005. Blood 106:1544-1551).
Cell-based therapies are used in patients who have failed conventional chemotherapy or radiation treatments, or have relapsed, often having attempted more than one type of therapy. The immune cells from patients with advanced cancer, who may have gone through rounds of chemotherapy, do not respond as robustly as healthy individuals. Moreover, cancer patients are often elderly and may suffer from other diseases that may limit the potential of their immune cells to become primed effector cells, even after in vitro activation and expansion. In addition, each cancer patient must provide a sufficient number of their own immune cells in order for them to be engineered to express a new immune receptor. Because each therapy must be custom made for the patient, this process requires weeks from the time the decision to undertake such therapy is made; meanwhile, the cancer continues to grow. U.S. patent application publication no. US 2002/0039576 discloses a method for modulating T cell activity, where the T cells used have a phenotype of CD3+-αβ-TcR+CD4−CD8−CD28−NK1.1−. U.S. patent application publication no. US 2006/0166314 discloses use of mutated T cells to treat cancer where the T cells are ones with a T cell response-mediating MDM2 protein-specific αβ-T cell receptor.
Cancer is not the only disease wherein T cell manipulation could be effective therapy. It is known that active T cell receptors on T cells are critical to the response of the body to stimulate immune system activity. For example, it has been shown that T cell receptor diversity plays a role in graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), in particular chronic GVHD (Anderson et al. (2004) Blood 104:1565-1573). In fact, administration of T cell receptor antibodies has been shown to reduce the symptoms of acute GVHD (Maeda et al. (2005) Blood 106:749-755).
There remains a need for more effective T cell-based therapies for the treatment of certain diseases and disorders, and methods of treatment based on the design of new types of T cells.